U-TURN
A Quadrennial for Contemporary Art in Copenhagen
This fall in Copenhagen, the world’s best city according to renowned British magazine Monocle, will host an exciting festival for contemporary art. Staged in unconventional spaces including the former Carlsberg Brewery and the harbor front, “U-Turn - A Quadrennial for Contemporary Art,” will run for a period of 70 days from Sept. 5 to Nov. 9. The festival is intended to take place every four years, as implied in the name.
The program revolves around four major themes: New Europe, Translating Culture, The City in Transformation and simply Performance. According to the organizers, all of the themes play a central part in the worldwide ‘contemporary art debate.’ A total of 65 Danish and international artists paint the picture so to speak of the contemporary art scene.
The goal is to attract people who are not usually exposed to the art scene and provide an opportunity to experience art through very different forms and shapes. A wide variety of public spaces around the city will be used for delivering the various performances, exhibitions, conferences and art installations. Another dimension is to provide people with an insight into the actual pieces of art, many of which represent cultures of former Eastern European countries such as Hungary, Slovakia and Romania, today commonly referred to as the New Europe. In fact 30 percent of the U-Turn exhibitors will be artists from Eastern Europe.
Not less than 5,000 square meters of Copenhagen will be used for the U-Turn art festival. The ”epicentre” for this art invasion is the old Carlsberg Brewery and bottling plant dating back to 1922. The facility covers 3,770 square meters of space and will hold many of the events in a charming renovated factory environment. Since beer production has always been considered a serious matter in Denmark, the founder of Carlsberg, J.C. Jacobsen, made sure his scientists (back in the days of 1847), had a garden named “Akademihaven,”(academy garden) dedicated to them. The bottling hall and garden will be integrated as exhibition areas and opened to the public for the first time. In the garden you can experience walking inside a sculpture titled Observatory/Air Port City created by Argentinean artist Tomas Saraceno who is currently exhibiting in London. It is also worth noting that about 25 percent of the art exhibited is created solely for the Copenhagen U-Turn event.
One extraordinary public area promised to be transformed by U-Turn is Copenhagen’s picturesque harbour front, an ideal promenade any visitor will soon discover. This particular event of the festival promises to create an alternative sea front or you might say just another art experience out of the ordinary during this festival.
While looking over the festival programme it is easy to see that there is a vast and rich collection of contemporary art on offer that branches out in a multitude of fascinating directions. From portraits of fallen Danish soldiers in the Afghanistan war to a movie depicting insights of Perestroika in Russia, to an innovative video art piece inspired by the city of Bucharest, there will surely be something to stimulate audiences from all walks of life. So make a turn and challenge your senses on the streets of Copenhagen this fall and experience art like never before.
August 2008